STEPHENVILLE – In Teresa Da Silva’s first season in Stephenville, she quickly made her mark and built that into Tarleton’s highest postseason award honors in their NCAA Division I era.
Da Silva was named All-WAC Second Team and to the WAC’s All-Newcomer Team on Sunday, after a vote by the Western Athletic Conference head coaches. The Texan junior is the first player to make a First or Second Team postseason list in the program’s D1 era. She is the first player to earn postseason recognition since Marissa Escamilla and Iyana Dorsey were both Honorable Mention All-WAC honorees in 2020-21.
Da Silva immediately made her mark with 20 points in Tarleton’s season opener, an early indication for what would continue the rest of the year. In fact, the do-it-all guard was top-two on the Texans in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals and blocks, along with three-point percentage.
She led the team with 14.5 points per game, eighth most in the WAC, and the best scoring average in Tarleton’s D1 era. She also averaged 3.9 RPG, 2.4 APG, 1.4 SPG and 0.4 BPG, shooting 37.8 percent from distance.
Da Silva was lethal from distance all year, making 65-of-172 (.378) from downtown, finishing with the fourth most three-point makes in a single-season in program history. She surpassed Bailey Wipff’s (2015-16) and Helena Smith’s (1991-92) 63 makes in their respective seasons.
Da Silva had eight 20+ point games on the year, from her first game to her last game, the fifth most such games in the WAC. She scored a career-high 31 points (14-16 FT) with nine rebounds, a tied-career-high six assists and three steals in Tarleton’s 86-69 win over Weber State on Dec. 6. That was just a week after she recorded a double-double with 21 points (7-12 FG, 5-8 3PT), 10 rebounds and three assists in Tarleton’s 84-69 road win at Western Illinois on Nov. 30.
She started all 28 of Tarleton’s 29 games she played this year, finishing with 20 double-digit scoring performances and 10 multi-steal outings, including a career-high five steals with 17 points and four assists in Tarleton’s 67-46 win over Northwestern State on Dec. 14.
Da Silva joined the Texans this season after spending the last two years at Arizona Western College.
The full list of WAC postseason awards are below:
Player of the Year: Starr Jacobs, UT Arlington
Defensive Player of the Year: Lizzy Williamson, Southern Utah
Sixth Woman of the Year: Tomekia Whitman, Southern Utah
Freshman of the Year: Jordan Harrison, Stephen F. Austin
Newcomer of the Year: Tomekia Whitman, Southern Utah
Coach of the Year: Tracy Sanders, Southern Utah
All-WAC First Team (Alphabetical by School)
Maleeah Langstaff, Abilene Christian
Trinity San Antonio, California Baptist
Tiarra Brown, Grand Canyon
Cherita Daugherty, Southern Utah
Avery Brittingham, Stephen F. Austin
Aiyana Johnson, Stephen F. Austin
Starr Jacobs, UT Arlington
Breaunna Gillen, Utah Tech
All-WAC Second Team (Alphabetical by School)
Grace Schmidt, California Baptist
Madelyn Batista, Sam Houston
Tomekia Whitman, Southern Utah
Lizzy Williamson, Southern Utah
Jordan Harrison, Stephen F. Austin
Teresa Da Silva, Tarleton
Kayla White, UT Arlington
yana Dorsey, UTRGV
WAC All-Defensive Team (Alphabetical by School)
Tiarra Brown, Grand Canyon
Aaliyah Collins, Grand Canyon
Lizzy Williamson, Southern Utah
Aiyana Johnson, Stephen F. Austin
Starr Jacobs, UT Arlington
WAC All-Newcomer Team (Alphabetical by School)
Maleeah Langstaff, Abilene Christian
Aspen Thornton, Abilene Christian
Teresa Da Silva, Tarleton
Tomekia Whitman, Southern Utah
Kayla White, UT Arlington
1 Trackback / Pingback